Giant Snake Doesn’t Belong In Columbia S.C.

Columbia, S.C. resident Andrew Philson came across this gigantic snake in his yard on Tuesday. He called animal control who refused to do anything. They said it sounded like an unusually large Black Rat Snake – a beneficial species. A Black Rat Snake is a solid black critter that never exceeds 7 feet in length and they’re very common in S.C. I think the guys at animal control were either too lazy or too afraid to get involved with such a monster.

Mr. Philson took this photo of the snake. He thinks it is some kind of Python, and I agree. I took a good, long look at the photo and thought it important to point out that a good portion of the snake’s length is hidden behind the tree (shown in red). I can’t tell how far his tail hangs down the backside of the tree. It has to be at least 18 feet long and doesn’t belong in the United States.

You’ve probably heard about the population explosion of Burmese Pythons in the Florida Everglades that are eating all the native animal species to the point of extinction. They don’t belong in the U.S. either. The theory is that they escaped from pet stores when Hurricane Andrew ripped through southern Florida in 1992. This brings up a couple of possibilities as to how this giant appeared in South Carolina. It is either someone’s pet that got loose, or the Florida Pythons are migrating northward. Pythons are non-venemous, but are constrictors who can swallow animals as large as deer whole. Only an idiot would have such a thing for a pet.

This beast could eat your dog, your cat, or even your child. Maybe it can’t swallow an adult human, but it could wrap around you and squeeze the life out of you. This snake and every one like it should be found and killed before it has a chance to multiply. It was found about 70 miles from where I live, so I’m considering buying a shotgun and taking it with me every time I go outside. If I saw something like this in my yard, I’d have nightmares for the rest of my life.

Sorry, no “Un-see” button. I’d use it myself. Thanks for looking, though. Me no like snakes either. When I don’t like a certain critter, I want to know everything about them. “Know thine enemy.” The critters I hate most are snakes, bees and ants.

Seriously though, I know a lot of people are scared or intimidated by snakes but most captive bred snakes make brilliant pets. Fair enough venomous ones can be a danger when they feel threatened but on the whole there is not much to worry about if you give them a wide berth. As far as ‘killer’ giant snakes go, provided you are not planning on provoking them and you don’t stink of their food lol there is not much worry. I’ve kept and bred alsorts of exotic animals for 18 years and one thing I have learned is treat them with respect and they will do the same. Honestly they do not deserve their sinister reputation and definitely don’t deserve to be blown to bits by a shotgun

You bring up two good points. Should snakes and other exotic animals be kept and bred in captivity? And what happens when they get loose, like the recent episode in North Carolina? You’re not always going to be around to care for them.

I’m not even exaggerating here when I say that more people die every year from falling out of bed than are killed by large snakes. Globally, there have been 12 confirmed deaths caused by large constrictors in the last 10 years (this number includes both wild and captive animals) compare that number to the 42 confirmed deaths caused by dogs last year in the united states alone. If you look at the numbers advocating for a ban (or the death) of all large snakes on the basis of public safety just doesn’t make sense unless you’re also going to go after MUCH MUCH more dangerous animals like your adorable little puppy.

So much scientific misinformation here it’s not even funny. The official known record for a black rat snake is 9 feet so the “never exceeds 7 feet in length” goes right out the window. Also, if you actually think that they are always solid black then it’s obvious you have never even bothered to do a google image search for black rat snakes. They are born with a very visible pattern that fades as they get older, many older snakes often retaining a good deal of visible pattern. And the clincher, you can see the white lip that totally gives it away that it’s a rat snake. Also, regardless of what anyone wants to say about global warming, SC still gets too cold in the winter for pythons to survive. Lastly, the attempted hysteria rousing at the end is rather shameless. Even if this animal wanted to, it is not big or strong enough to pose a threat to humans (adult or child), other than a bad bite. If it could even eat a dog, it could only eat a small one. Lastly, even though I have not seen a BRS as long as this guy, I have seen one as thick (he was obese) on display at SciWorks in Winston-Salem, NC.

Thanks for correcting my scientific errors. If a snake like that could only eat a small dog, that’s one dog too many. Do you think a small dog (or cat) is any less precious to its owner than a large one? Remember, “dog” spelled backward is god. “Snake” spelled backward is just ekans.

No, a small dog/cat is not any less precious than a large one, but a snake that could just barely eat a small dog (and I still don’t entirely think this one could which is why I said “if”) certainly poses no threat to humans. Please remember that length is not the only thing that determines how dangerous a snake is. Boa constrictors (typically 10-13ft long) while they can get large enough to constrict a human to death they cannot swallow even a child, not like bigger pythons. Boas and pythons are more muscular for their size and have bigger heads than a rat snake near that length. So for their size, they can tackle larger and stronger prey. Yes the public should be protected from dangerous invasive animals (and I applaud you for your concern both for people and pets), but as far as I can tell, this is a rat snake which would never seek out a human or even bite anyone except in self defense, and as its name implies, prefers rodents as prey.

if u look at the markings it is a Greene anaconda they can reach lengths of up to 22 feet can be highly aggressive but are also great pets I would love to live in or close to the area this was found it would go great with my other snakes

You should read a bit about snakes. Dogs and heavy weights kill more people per year.
The one int he pic does look like a eastern rat snake, so other people are correct on that. Now, if it was a escaped pet, do not be mean. Just like a dog or cat, it is loved by someone, so put yourself in their shoes.

Big constrictors are good pets for those that can support their needs. They are not monsters.

Wow. This is fucking stupid. I just love people who freak out about snakes. If only people reacted the same way about birds they would see how dumb they are. “oh shit there’s a bird that’s an invasive (non-native) species to this area, lets kill it. Totes badass.

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